Administrators of the Telegram channel “Project Pogrom” detained

On October 29, 2024, several large far-right Telegram channels reported the detention of the administrators of the “Project Pogrom” channel.

On October 23, the administrator of the channel “Yan Rakin” was detained, and on October 24, the author of the channel, Alexander, writing under the pseudonym “Destruction Pavlovich.” According to reports from far-right resources, the channel’s administrators are planning to be charged with Art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code (public calls for terrorist activities), 280 of the Criminal Code (public calls for extremist activities) and 282 of the Criminal Code (incitement of national hatred).

Since October 24, the style and design of the Telegram channel has changed significantly.

According to ultra-right reports, security forces were able to find the administrator of “Razgrom” Alexander after he was sent to a special detention center for fighting on October 18 and received 7 days of administrative arrest. The neo-Nazi wrote about this on his Telegram channel, specifying that he had psychoactive medications with him during his arrest. After this, employees of Center “E” called all police departments in the alleged place of residence of the neo-Nazi, thus finding out his real name and detaining him.

“Project Mayhem” appeared in December 2022 and became one of the largest Telegram channels where videos of racist attacks were published. Almost 20 thousand people were subscribed to the channel. Since August 2023, it has actively published videos of hate-motivated attacks set to the music of contemporary Russian indie artists. The channel also promoted drug stores and drug use in general. In total, during the existence of the resource, almost 157 videos with 241 attacks were published.

Official statements from law enforcement agencies about the detention of the administrators of “Razgrom” have not yet appeared.